Got to be with You
by Kanna37
Summary: Post manga canon, Inu/Kags fluff.  A simple one-shot take on the day of Kagome's return to the Sengoku Jidai, and Inuyasha's side... and what precipitated it.


**Got to be with You**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

-sSs-

Inuyasha sat, high in the Goshinboku, staring into the silent well, ears back, and eyes narrowed, as he imagined her pulling herself over the edge of it. He was certain that if he tried hard enough, he could actually will it to happen.

It was certain that he needed it to, at any rate.

Three years had come and gone since he'd been pulled back by the well, leaving her exhausted and tense on the opposite side – and he hadn't seen her since. The extended absence was wearing on him, and he was losing hope that he would ever be allowed to see her again.

If she didn't return to him, he would slowly wither away, unable to live without the source of everything to him – happiness, love, _life itself_. He was simply unequipped to live without her any longer.

He'd told her more than once that he needed her with him, and his words had been amply proved by this separation. She was his air, and without her he was suffocating, slowly, and painfully.

And that was why this fine summer day found him sitting in the god tree, attempting to conjure her from sheer will alone. He imagined other days, other times when she'd returned to him through the well.

"_Wench, you're late!" _he'd say, and she'd stare at him, fists beginning to clench.

"_I had things to do in my time, Inuyasha – I can't just run out and leave everyone hanging because you want me to!"_

He'd scoff, of course, and remind her of which era was more important. And why. _"You should just stay here, Kagome – we have to find the shards! That's more important than some dumb 'studying'!"_

He chuckled sadly at those memories. She'd never understood what he was really saying, of course. _"You should stay here with me, Kagome – I don't want you to be away from me. I need you with me." _Those were the words he wanted to say, but never could. He slumped a little in his seat, and lost himself further in his memories.

So many times that running off to Kikyou had cost him time with Kagome – time that had been lost, and so had become more precious than even the Tessaiga to him. Oh, Kikyou would always have a place in his heart, but it was a distant part – a bittersweet memory. Kagome's presence had allowed him to grieve and get past Kikyou's death, and his part in it.

It was an odd statement, that, but true nonetheless. Without Kagome around, he couldn't think of anything else but her absence, even Kikyou taking a back seat to that – especially after that time he'd almost been foolish enough to give her up because he thought he owed his life to Kikyou. She'd come back to him, and though he'd planned to let her go, thinking it the only honorable thing to do with his life pledged to Kikyou, once she _had_ returned to him, and asked to stay by his side, he'd never had the strength to even consider letting her go again. He couldn't.

But all of that went to say that the only thing that had allowed him to heal from all that mess with Kikyou, had been Kagome. With her by his side, he could take the time to grieve, and though it probably hadn't been fair to Kagome, and had, in fact, caused her pain, he was ashamed to admit, she had been what he needed – what he still needed. Because even though he was well over Kikyou by this time, he knew that he would _never _get over Kagome – no matter what life threw at him from here on out.

He remembered after the stone oni, sitting in the tree above the village and staring out across the valley – she'd leaned into him, and he'd reciprocated. He'd never felt more at peace than he did then with her so close...

Leaping down from his perch, suddenly restless, he placed a hand against the Goshinboku's bark – against the smooth patch the great tree carried from his imprisonment. He found it ironic that the tree held a scar from that episode just as he did. They'd both been pierced by Kikyou's arrow, after all – and both released at Kagome's touch.

"Come back to me, Kagome – I can't make it without you. You said you wanted to stay by my side... and Kami knows I want you there, desperately," he whispered, anguish clear in his voice. "_Please_... I've got to be with you, forever."

With a sigh, he hoped the tree would somehow get the message to her, since it had allowed them to speak to each other through time before. After a few more moments, he turned to leave, and was startled to see Miroku at the edge of the clearing. He'd been so caught up in his thoughts, and his grief over Kagome, that he hadn't even noticed the monk.

"Something you need, Miroku?" he asked, voice melancholy. He watched with little interest as his friend walked towards him.

"You still miss her," he said, when he reached the hanyou's side. "Do you still believe that you were born for each other?" Inuyasha had been at a low point one winter's night when he'd confided some of what had happened inside the meidou that last time.

"Keh. No matter what, I will always believe that we were born for each other. I just hope that we don't have to die before we'll finally be allowed to _be_ together." He stuffed his hands in his sleeves, and looked up solemnly at the tree again. "But if that's what it takes, I would happily follow her into death, Miroku – I'd follow her anywhere."

"I do not believe that is what it will take, Inuyasha," he said, placing a comforting hand against his friends back. "But... even if she returns, you must realize that her life span is not like yours. What will you do when she inevitably ages, and then passes on?"

"Follow her, like I just said. I'm half-youkai, Miroku – and half-human. I can and _will _choose to age and die with her – because without her, there's no kind of life for me."

Miroku looked taken aback at that, but simply sighed, and didn't pursue that line of questioning any further. "Be that as it may, Inuyasha, the reason I sought you out is that Sango has the mid-day meal ready – we are simply waiting on you."

Inuyasha glanced at his friend, and smiled a little, following him back into the village with one last look at the great tree behind him.

_Please send her my message, Goshinboku._

_-_sSs-

Kagome sighed, enjoying the light breeze that played and flirted with her dark locks as she wandered the shrine grounds restlessly.

_Three years... I miss you so much, Inuyasha. I've finally finished all that schooling you hated so much, _she chuckled to herself, _and you're not around to enjoy that fact. But it means that I'm done with what I had to do to honor my family. Everyone wants me to embrace a life here – to find something that makes me happy... but they don't understand that this world doesn't hold anything that can make me happy, because you aren't in this world._

Inevitably, her eyes were drawn to the Goshinboku, just as they always were whenever Inuyasha, and his absence in her life, was weighing heavily on her mind. Which, admittedly, was most of the time. Still...

She moved towards it, stepping over the little white picket fence around it and climbing up onto some of the roots, so that she could reach the bare spot on it that represented the only physical manifestation of the hanyou that held her heart that she still had access to. Placing her hand on it, she gently stroked the great tree, a sudden shiver coming over her. She felt as though an electric shock passed through her, and then she heard his voice.

It may have been three years, but she would know it anywhere...

"_Come back to me, Kagome – I can't make it without you. You said you wanted to stay by my side... and Kami knows I want you there, desperately. "Please... I've got to be with you, forever."_

She gasped, and her heart ached – she could feel his pain, just as easily as she'd heard his voice – it had been audible, not a mere heated imagining. Her hand clapped against her heart in shock, and she almost fell as she stepped back a little, his words striking some chord deep within.

Turning as quickly as she could, she jumped down from where she was and immediately headed for the well, a gut reaction, really, to hearing his beloved voice after so long. As she slid the door to the mini-shrine open, though, reality kicked her, and she slowed, despair almost taking her breath away as she stepped down the stairs to lean on the well.

_I was so afraid when I came back the last time, and was so glad to see my family. But then it took Inuyasha away from me... and I haven't been happy since. I think the well was reacting to my feelings at that time, and that's why it closed. But now... my feelings have changed. I'm done with my responsibilities in this world, and now all I want is..._

_Inuyasha._

She was completely caught off-guard at the sudden pulse of power that came from the well, then, and with her breath held, and every part of her praying to every kami she knew the name of, she gathered her courage, and looked over the edge of it...

Only to see the blue, summer skies of feudal Japan. Heart in her throat, she froze, almost unable to take in that her prayers had been answered. Before she could move, though, her mother's voice came to her, and she looked back at her, already saying goodbye in her own mind.

"Momma," she said, as her mother stepped down to stand next to her and look into the well, "I.."

And her mother smiled, though tears gathered in her eyes, and she reached an arm around her daughter and hugged her for a moment. "It's okay, Kagome – you do what you have to do. Your heart has always been with him, and I knew that I would lose you to his world someday from the first moment I saw him. Be blessed in your life together, daughter."

Kagome choked up for a moment, and nodded. "Tell grandpa and Sota goodbye for me, momma, and that I love them. I love you, too, momma." She hugged her mother back for one long, last moment, and then pulled away, and smiled...

And leaped over the edge of the well, eager to meet her destiny, five hundred years in the past.

She would, however, never forget that last sight of her mother with tears in her eyes, and a gentle, loving smile on her face.

_Goodbye, momma..._

-sSs-

Inuyasha winced, sending an annoyed look over to his two friends who were hanging up the laundry, he flattened his poor abused ears to his head. "Would you guys get the twins off me?" he groused.

Miroku chuckled, but reprimanded his daughters as Sango apologized. They knew that Inuyasha wasn't really upset, though – he'd always been pretty good with their high-spirited little girls.

Just as he was about to answer Sango's apology, he caught a whiff of a scent curling tantalizingly around him, and his eyes widened, a shocked sense of hope pouring through him as he lifted his nose into the breeze and sniffed... when he realized that he really was smelling what he thought he was, he stood up abruptly, startling his friends and the kids. As the girl's squealed, he dropped them gently on Shippo, saying, "Go slay the kitsune," and then he took off in the direction of the well so fast he almost couldn't be seen.

The whole way there, the only thing his broken heart could pump out was, "_Please, please, please!" _

He slowed, finally, as he reached the well clearing, nervous, desperately praying that he was not about to be crushed, and stepping up to the well, he heard breathing... immediately, he stuck his hand into the well as he leaned over as far as he could, eyes closed, and gasped, heart pounding almost through his chest as he felt her hand grasp his. His eyes snapped open, and he pulled with every bit of himself...

He could feel all the parts of him that had been damaged, that had begun dying since she'd been gone, instantly begin to heal, and he looked up as she came over the rim of the well with a look of desperate longing on his face. He couldn't even think, her presence, scent, and the look in her eyes drowning his mind.

She was back... she had come back to him, just when he'd begun to truly despair, and in that moment, there was no way she could ever be close enough to his Kagome starved body, mind, heart and soul.

"I'm so sorry, Inuyasha," she said, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears, "were you waiting for me?"

He almost yanked her into his arms, his wild emotions leaving him unable to be truly gentle. "You idiot! What have you been doing?" was all his dazed mind could think of to say.

Kagome couldn't believe how tightly he was holding her, but she wrapped her arms around him and held on just as tightly, even as his words kicked in, and a half-laugh, half-sob came out. _I've missed his scent so much, and his touch, and his voice... everything, I've missed everything, so, so badly..._

"I heard you, Inuyasha, at the Goshinboku. I finished everything over in my world... and all I wanted was to come back to you," she said into his suikan, knowing he would hear her. "I just... had to be with you again."

And as the couple pulled apart reluctantly so she could greet their excited friends, one last private glance was shared between them.

When the greetings were over, and evening fell, their time would come...

Inuyasha was determined that 'their time', would never end...even in death. He would never let himself be separated from her again, and he knew she felt the same.

As they walked back to the village, he sent a prayer of thanksgiving to the spirit of the God tree...

_Thank you, Goshinboku, for sending her my message... and bringing my heart back to me._

Owari.

-sSs-

A/N: I just had to type this up, since I've never tried my hand at a post manga ending like the inestimable knittingknots, and Fenikkusuken have. Truth be told, I was just in the mood for Inu/Kags fluff.

No lemon, just a lot of the aforementioned fluff... hope no one chokes!

Amber


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